Numbers of inmates released from San Bernardino County to federal immigration were part of first-ever TRUTH Act meeting

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ICE supporters hold up signs as the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors hold a TRUTH Act forum, in response to requests from the ACLU in San Bernardino on Tuesday, December 4, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

As San Bernardino County held its first legally-mandated forum on federal immigration officials’ access to county jail inmates on Tuesday, people on both sides of the immigration debate asked more of the sheriff’s department.

Immigrant rights activists expressed frustration with the weekday morning timing of the Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds (TRUTH ACT) meeting, which covered county and federal cooperation during 2017, the year before the most stringent elements of California’s sanctuary laws took place.

Though they learned that San Bernardino County released 353 people into federal immigration custody — out of more than 82,000 who were arrested in 2017 — local activists also wanted to hear more details from sheriff’s officials and hoped to have a dialogue, so they could express the effects of immigration enforcement.

“We want to ensure that the community has an opportunity to present their experiences to the sheriff and the county, and how these collaborations have impacted their daily lives,” said Luis Nolasco, community engagement and policy advocate at the ACLU of Southern California.

But anti-illegal immigration activists in the crowd who heard San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon review his department’s policies on responding to requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, urged the sheriff to follow federal immigration laws and collaborate more with ICE, despite state laws that regulate such behavior.

“I want documentation of what happens to these criminals when they’re let loose,” said Greg Susca.

“I want information on where they go, what they do and how many there are. You say you don’t keep that information. I want you to keep it. I’m tired of these people out on my street.”

ICE supporters hold up signs as the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors hold a TRUTH Act forum, in response to requests from the ACLU in San Bernardino on Tuesday, December 4, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

ICE supporter Raul Rodriguez Jr speaks about immigration as the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors hold a TRUTH Act forum in response to requests from the ACLU in San Bernardino on Tuesday, December 4, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

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The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors hold a TRUTH Act forum, in response to requests from the ACLU in San Bernardino on Tuesday, December 4, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Luis Suarez speaks against ICE as the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors hold a TRUTH Act forum in response to requests from the ACLU in San Bernardino on Tuesday, December 4, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

ICE supporters hold up signs as the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors hold a TRUTH Act forum, in response to requests from the ACLU in San Bernardino on Tuesday, December 4, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

ICE supporter Greg Susca speaks about immigration as the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors hold a TRUTH Act forum in response to requests from the ACLU in San Bernardino on Tuesday, December 4, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Public attend a TRUTH Act forum during the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors meeting in San Bernardino on Tuesday, December 4, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

The meeting was the first TRUTH ACT forum, following a law that took effect two years ago that calls for the governing board of any county where law enforcement has provided ICE access to an individual during the previous year to hold at least one community forum the following year.

In September, the American Civil Liberties Union and immigration advocacy groups sent a letter to San Bernardino County, as well as Riverside, Orange and Los Angeles counties, requesting they hold the forum.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors also held its forum Tuesday, Dec. 4. Officials in Riverside and Los Angeles are expected to hold similar forums later this month.

McMahon’s presentation focused mostly on the department’s policies in 2017, but also touched on current policies following the 2018 implementation of the controversial law known as SB 54, or the California Values Act.

Under the TRUTH Act, law enforcement agencies are required to inform an inmate when ICE wants to interview them, which the inmate can then decline or request an attorney be present.

The state law, SB 54, further limits the information that law enforcement can provide to ICE, though those rules don’t apply to inmates accused of any of hundreds of violent crimes or to repeat offenders.

“The inmate has to meet the criteria of SB 54 before we call ICE and let them know that that inmate is being released,” McMahon said. “Once an inmate is released, ICE can meet that inmate in the lobby and take them into custody should they choose.”

When an inmate is booked into county jail, their fingerprints are sent electronically to law enforcement agencies across the country, including the Department of Homeland Security, McMahon said.

“We don’t notify ICE of somebody that’s in our custody that is potentially undocumented because we don’t have that information,” McMahon said. “We don’t have access to federal computers to put in our peoples’ names to see if they’re in the country with documentation or not.”

In 2017, there were 82,648 bookings in county jails and 87,742 releases. At the West Valley Detention Center specifically, ICE made 570 requests and picked up 353 inmates.